Day 348.I've mentioned my love of Indian food before, but I'm going to all over again. I LOVE INDIAN FOOD.I really, really, really do. The flavors are just so deep and rich and velvety and wonderful. Kindra emailed me to share her Chicken Makhani recipe, and I was so excited to make it. It calls for cardamom pods, which is great, since I have a ton in the house after makingChai Lattes.

Use a 5 quart or larger crockpot. Carefully sew together the cardamom pods using a needle and thread. You can put them in a little cheese cloth bundle, instead, if you have that in the house. Put chicken in crockpot, and add onion, garlic, and all of the dry spices. Plop in the butter and tomato paste. Add lemon juice and coconut milk. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or high for 4. The chicken should shred easily with 2 forks when fully cooked.

This is so good! I could have gone with a bit more cayenne, because I'm a nut, but the depth of flavor is wonderful. You can tweak the amount of garammasala and curry to your own taste---it's fine to add more at the end of cooking.

118 comments:

I have clicked refresh like 50 times this morning hoping for the update. (I think I'm nuts!) Anyway, The refreshes were worth it! I am so very excited to try this recipe. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Rachel Ray Indian Curry Chicken. I make it all the time. I am so pleased to try another Indian recipe. Thanks again for all you do!

Wowza, does this ever sound delicious! And me with a wild excess of cardamom pods as well. This one's bound to be a keeper in our family too. Thanks to both of you (recipe originator and recipe tester/poster/blogger!!!

Kindra, it was amazing! I'm counting down the minutes until lunch time. I had so much fun sewing the cardamom pods, and it egged me on to finally(!) hem my jacket sleeves. ;-)

Beverly, you mean you have ground cardamom? If so, start with a 1/2 tsp and then maybe add more to taste later. If your bottle has little green blobby things, those are cardamom pods. I strung them together on a piece of thread just so they didn't get lost in the pot.

Carroll, we all really liked this a lot. It wasn't too spicy for the kids.

This sounds really good! One question though - what is garam masala - a spice???? Thanks for all of the work that you've done crockpotting & blogging this year. I totally love your posts and look forward to it every day.

Hi there. I used to eat this in England when we lived there. It was so delish. So I went out to buy the stuff. Where does one find Garam Masala and Cardamom Pods? I'm guessing you have to go to a specialty store. Our local Kroger didnt have it. I had hoped they would in their specialty aisle. Also the curry, is that curry powder or paste?

Hi Kim,eeps, I'm sorry you had a hard time finding the spices. Our regular grocery store (safeway) has the spices, but I'd hope that a specialty store would have them for you. Here's a substitute for garam masala, but it looks like you still need cardamom.

I certainly don't want to lead you astray, but if you have everything else in the house already, I'd just go for it and forget about the cardamom---maybe up the curry (you're right, it's ground) at the end to taste.

Kim when my friend made this recipe she forgot to get cardamom, so she substituted the cardamom pods for 3/4 tsp cinnamon and she said it tasted great. I'm sure you could make the homemade garam masala and leave it out as well.

Oh queen of the crock pot. You have impressed me all year with your committment but now, I think I must bow down. My friends and I fell in love with Chicken Makhani while spending time in Japan and I have tried over and over to replicate it but I just can't get it perfect. I think, by the amount of passion you have put into this, that this may be the answer to my long-lasting Asian prayers. You deserve a tiara.

So I think this recipe sounds great except that I don't like curry. Do you think it would be just as good without the curry. Or is there another spice that you think would complimentary instead of curry? I know I'm weird, asking for indian food with no curry!

This sounds so good! Is there a vegetarian version I can make for my Indian son-in-law? Can I substitute sour cream for the yogurt? You know how everyone has one or two things that they won't eat, ever, under any circumstances, not for a million dollars, not for the life of their firstborn? Yogurt is mine!

Would you believe I went to Norway a few years ago and they have a boxed mix of this stuff which I LOVE...you cannot get it here in the US (but can get it at a restaurant) and I have not been able to find a recipe that seems like it is the real thing I love and this one looks like it will be. I will be trying it. THANKS!

I'm making it right now so I'll answer questions I know the answer to, to let our CrockPot lady keep crockpotting ...

Anonymous, I'd use tofu. Very, very firm (I'd press it or even freeze it for that spongy texture I like). It's an awesome sauce that I think would be good with tofu (though I don't eat it anymore). Or tempeh, if you can get a mild-flavored one.

I don't see why not with the sour cream. I personally would cut back on some of the saturated fat then.

Jaime - I stirred everything up, including onions and all. And I stirred it a couple times while cooking to be sure the chicken was really getting access to all flavors (and because I'd thrown in frozen lemon juice and wanted it distributed). And it seemed to turn out very well.

Thank you, thank you, thank you! I adore chicken makhani, but have never found a decent easy recipe! I'm not crafty enough to sew together some cardamom pods, LOL, but dang it, I'm gonna wrap 'em in some cheesecloth and call it good so I can try this!

I'm a vegetarian as well, just like Anonymous' son-in-law, so thought I'd help answer her question as well. The authentic Indian vegetarian version of this recipe is Paneer Makhani (or Paneer Butter Masala). It's very easy to make some yummy paneer (although not in the crockpot) and it will have a similar texture to tofu. Tofu would be tasty, but if you have time go the extra mile and make paneer.

I have powdered cardamom but not whole pods - how do I convert that? Also, I don't have curry because I was informed by an Indian man you make your own curry with different things....and everyone's is different because if it...I would LOVE to have a crock pot recipe for Chicken Korma (my favorite!

I was so excited to make this. And it smelled wonderful. But I do think it needed salt. I'm not sure how much, but it was just a tad bland. But am also realizing that I forgot to add the yogurt in at the end. I'd also recommend more chicken and less onion.

YUM! This is my favorite dish at our local Indian restaurant. I have it planned for Tuesday and will let you know how it goes. This sauce (At least in the restaurant) is FANTASTIC using mushrooms and peas for a vegetarian choice. :)

This is the best recipe of all! And you have so many great ones! I substituted 3/4 t cinnamon for the pods and put in 1 t of cayenne at your suggestion (instead of 1/2 t). I used unfrozen boneless skinless chx breasts. 3 hours on high was perfect (5 qt crockpot -- tends to cook on the high temp side). Kids (age 12, 15, 16) loved it overbasmati rice -- so did the husband!This is so great it is a "please make this once a week" in our house! Along with Peppercorn Steak --- love it!Thx!One of your biggest fans!upstate ny mom

I just finished putting all the ingredients into the crockpot! Can't wait to come home from work and have it for dinner. You rock, Stephanie! I finally dusted off my mother's Rival Crockpot from the 1980s (she gave it to me when I moved out), and the butter chicken is in there cooking. :D

I just put this in the crock a while ago as well, I'm so excited to try it :-) I must be out of sorts, I forgot to purchase yogurt and a lemon. In place of the lemon juice I subbed a bit of vinegar. I'll have to use some sour cream in place of the yogurt. I really wanted to make it as posted...

Our home smells so incredible right now. The snow is piling up outside, so going out to shovel/snoblow and coming back into aroma of Chicken Makani is wonderful. We have some naan that we are going to use instead of the rice. This should be great. Thanks for the recipe.

Mmmm, the sauce was super tasty. Will definitely make again! However, I used chicken breasts, and they got pretty dry. They could have been taken out after three hours, I bet. (Another poster did breasts for three hours and I should have read her comment before cooking...ah well). I will definitely use thighs next time, per your actual recipe, as they are juicier. Thanks so much for providing sooo many delicious, and frequently GF, recipes!

This was delightful! My husband has requested I make this again rather soon. :) I could not find garam masala, so I used wikipedia's suggestions of: (quote) The basis of a North West Indian garam masala usually comprises cloves, green and/or black/brown cardamom, cinnamon (or probably cassia), and mace and/or nutmeg. Black pepper can be added if the mix is to be used immediately, but if kept, the fragrance will diminish, and may change in character. Also typical of the region is the use of black cumin (not white cumin, nor caraway, which is not an Indian spice). (from wikipedia)(end quote).

Turned out really, REALLY well! The house smelled so very good!

Also, I used boneless, skinless breasts that were frozen solid and they turned out wonderfully on 8 hours on low. (one of the things I love most about the crockpot is that lack of preplanning (thawing meat, for instance) does not hurt the finished product.) :)

I made this last night - delicious!!! Both my husband and I love Indian food! This is very easy. We will definitely have this again! Thanks for your blog - it is terrific! I'm going to be sad in eight days when the year is over.

To be honest, this was a bit bland. Not nearly as creamy and rich as you get at an Indian restaurant (I get it a lot!)

It tasted too... yogurty. I tossed in an extra 4 tbsp of butter and about a cup of heavy cream at the end and cooked for an additional 45 mins with lid off on high. Added a good bit of salt and that did the trick.

Yeah, not a lowfat recipe, nor should it be... but good. It's all about portion control. I'll probably get about 8 meals out of this.

I already had ground cardamom on hand, so I used about 2 1/2 tsp instead of the pods. I wanted the sauce to be thicker, so I turned the heat to high and left the lid off for the last 30 minutes or so. Turned out delicious, and the smell just can't be beat!

I am in love. I tried this recipe today, I realized after I started that I didn't have garam masala so I used a combination of cumin, coriander, tumeric and garlic powder instead. I also substituted left over turkey from Christmas dinner. One of my favorite foods of all time is kourma and this is really good. Definitately will make it again. Next time I'll use less red pepper though, my 10 year old will think it's too spicey but he's not here for dinner tonight so it's ok.

I made this last night. Oh my! It's so good! The house still smells terrific this morning! I left out the cardamom, because I didn't have any, and I don't care for it much anyway. One of the household mentioned the lack, but the other two didn't. Maybe I'll try the cinnamon trick next time.

Will since it's 18 degrees w/ windchill of 11 here in the southern coastal region, I've decided not to go to the store for coconut milk & cardamom. I've recently learned how to make butter and yogurt, and was excited for an excuse to learn to make coconut milk too! Oh well maybe next time.

I'm going to make the butter for this recipe and then try using the butter milk instead of the coconut milk. I know it won't be the same :( but hopefully still good!

Let me just say that I don't normally go through all this trouble for a meal that will be gone in seconds, but it's my husband's first Saturday off where we don't have plans in YEARS so I'm celebrating! :)

I made this for company over the Christmas holiday. IT IS INSANELY DELICIOUS!! Seeing it in my inbox today made me squeal with delight, hug my computer and resist the urge to lick the picture on my screen. Oh YUM. Soooooo good. Definitely a keeper. I'm off to add yogurt to the grocery list for chicken later this week.

Chicken Makhani is one of my favorites that I like to order when we get Indian food so I was very excited to find this on here! I made it last night and it was very good. I only poked myself a couple times trying to sew cardamom pods together, but good idea.

I am a mom and training for an ironman (Come see my blog!) so it was so nice to come home from my daughters ballet class to a house smelling like an indian restaurant. What a treat! We're definitely making this again, but it was a little too spicy for some of us. We also ate it with tortillas which was really good, though not as authentic as naan.

This is exceptionally good. My daughter is an Indian food fan, and just about went crazy when I made this.

A couplke of tweaks that I did: (1) I doubled everything because I wanted to freeze some; (2) I used a mix of thighs and cut-in-half breasts; and (3) I sauteed the onions first -- I just like 'em better that way.

I made jasmine rice in my rice cooker, but used a can of coconut milk as part of the liquid, then tossed in 2 cardamom seeds & a stick of cinnamon. Talk about yummy!

WOW!! My family totally loved this. I just cannot believe how easy this was. I did not have the patience to sew together 15 cardamom pods, so I threw them into a tea sieve along with some whole black pepper and cinnamon. The chicken was so moist and delicious. Thank you so much for this wonderful recipe.

A year ago, I had never even eaten Indian food and thank God my boyfriend finally dragged me out to an Indian restaurant. Now I am cooking my own. I could eat it every day, especially this chicken. I gave BF the leftovers of this (begrudgingly) and he agreed. Love this!

i finally made this today, and it was the. best. food. from. a. crockpot. ever. seriously. i had read all the comments, so i added another 4 tbs butter, and at the end with the yogurt i added some salt and about 1/2 c. fat free evaporated milk. if i hadn't had a snack to tide me over when i could smell the butter chicken cooking and thought i would chew my arm off, i probably would have finished off the whole batch by myself! i served it over jasmine rice and it was as good as anything i've gotten at a restaurant! thanks for the recipe!

I love cooking Indian food and couldn't believe you have recipes for the crock pot..I was so excited. This was also great. I altered it a bit for a healthier version (only put it about 1.5 T of butter). I also didn't have cardamom pods, but learned you can substitute a cinnamon stick, which I did and it was wonderful. Thanks for the great recipe.

Thank you so much for this recipe. I worried it would be too different for my 4&5 year olds but they loved it! I wanted to let you and your readers know (in case you might want to add this to the blog) that I found a recipe to mix up your own garam masala. Couldn't find it anywhere in my town, or the two closest. Go to: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Easy-Garam-Masala/Detail.aspxAlso, my husband discovered that fresh chopped cilantro sprinkled over the dish when served was divine. A must try! Thanks again! My whole apartment complex was jealous of our dinner smells!

I love this recipe! I have made it probably three times every month since I found it shortly after you posted it. My three kids love it(ages 11, 7, 4). The oldest and youngest even STIR it INTO their rice. I have inadvertantly left out the lemon or yogurt or even the butter and it is still great. Thanks so much!

If you can find an Indian or Pakistani market - GO and stock up on spices. I've never regretted doing that as there's really no substitute for some of them & learning to use such an array of spices has been so much fun! I even have my own homemade garam masala :)

My tweaks to this amaaazing recipe:

1/2 tsp onion seeds

3/4 tsp salt

1 or 2 tbsp shredded coconut (since we also used the light coco milk)

1/4 tsp sour mango powder (in place of lemon juice)

For curry powder, I normally don't even use the stuff but since I had some I wanted to use up I threw in 1tsp of that and then 1/2 tsp tumeric and 1/2 tsp brown cumin seeds

For ginger powder, I replaced with about an inch of fresh minced ginger

This, like most recipes for Butter Chicken I've found on the net, whilst tasty, doesn't seem to be anything like what I'm used to from indian restaurants. It's always way too dark tasting and strong, and not tomato-y enough. If anything I always liken what I get in restaurants to a currified tomato soup :) I tried doubling the amount of tomato paste and adding a tiny bit of sugar to this but it still wasn't what I was expecting :(

I used a few dashes of tabasco instead of cayenne pepper. I also (upon the advice of a friend) ladled some sauce into a bowl, mixed in the yogurt, and then blended it with the immersible blender until it was nice and creamy. And then I added it back into the crock and stirred it in. I'm a novice with Indian food, but if it's all this good, I think we'll be eating a lot more. Seriously, this is SO yummy!

I'm feeling so brilliant at the very moment. I don't sew. And I don't have cheesecloth. But then i remembered some sterile gauze pads...which i haven't had occasion to use. i unfolded one and it's a big square of improv-cheesecloth!

and that unwaxed dental floss i never use? made a nice, sterile tie for the sack of cardamom pods.

This is definitely my favorite recipe on the whole site. I came back to print it again (gave all my other copies to people I'd raved to about it), and wanted to check the comments for any other pointers. Something I didn't see anywhere yet that came in handy once was substituting low fat milk and a few drops of coconut extract for the coconut milk in a pinch. Can you believe the local grocery store doesn't carry coconut milk?! I honestly couldn't really tell the difference though. Stephanie inspired the substitution in another recipe that called for cocunut milk, so I can't even really take credit!

AMAZING. I went a little off the reservation with the spices and the result was really nice. Leftovers of this worked nicely on quesadillas with mushrooms and other veggies. I live in Northern Vermont and this really hits the spot in a place where there is no Indian Take-Out to be found. Thanks!

How would it be with cubed potato? I like the idea of adding fresh peas at the end along with the yogurt. The house smells amazing right now...can't wait to eat it. We have some jasmine rice and naan just waiting.

Same person commenting as above...went ahead and put in a diced russet about 2 hours before serving. Made the sauce thicker. It was very, very good!!! Several hours later the scent is still lingering in the air - in a good way. Also put in about 1/2 cup frozen peas and approx 2 T half and half b/c my fage yogurt had gone past it's expiration. My husband, who is NOT into spicy food, requested a second helping and is taking the leftovers to work tomorrow. Used organic chicken breasts instead of thighs. Did not have garam masala so substituted 1/4 tsp each cinnamon, nutmeg, cumin, cloves, and black pepper. The only thing I will do differently next time is double the recipe so there is more left over! Also...used basmati rice, not jasmine as earlier posted. So, even after the multiple "I used this instead of that" I still feel it's the same recipe and IT IS AMAZING!!!!

I put this in the pot this morning, and my husband got home about two hours earlier than I did. Apparently the smell was too irresistible, because he texted me "It's PERFECT!" Thank you for the perfect recipe--I am a slow cooker convert! :)

OMG We just finished dinner and this is the best recipe! Our slow cooker worked perfect! We added a 1/2 tsp of salt, 2tsp Tumeric, used freshly grated ginger and upped the amount on the cayenne and garam masala after reading the other suggestions. We also added thickly cut carrots about an hour before the end of cooking time and frozen petite peas about 20min. It was such an amazing dinner with superb flavor. Thank you for all of your wonderful recipes..we are converts!

Ruchikar! (That's Hindi for delicious!) I've recently become an Indian food convert. I've tried many dishes but this is the first crockpot Indian dish I've made. I used a cinnamon stick instead of the cardamom pods but otherwise followed this exactly. It was so warm and tasty and creamy. Definitely will make this again.

Made this last night w/ frozen chicken breast tenderloins (and less than 2 lbs) because that is what I had on hand. I went ahead and followed the recipe measurements despite the fact that I didn't use as much chicken. It was fantastic! This recipe comes together so easily that I have a feeling we will be eating this a lot. :-)

Oh, I should add... I used a conversion chart for the cardamom pods: 10 pods = 1.5 t. ground cardamom... I don't know if it's a huge difference using the pods versus ground, but we decided to use what we had in the spice cabinet. :-)

I made this Wednesday and served it with garlic naan. The whole family loved it. I did omitt the yogurt because I forgot it at the store. What vegetables do you serve when you make different Indian dishes like this?

I made this tonight for my husband and I. Really loved it, next time I would go a bit heavier on the curry and garam masala and even add a dash more cayenne, the flavours were a bit too mellow for me. Really enjoyed it though, we'll definitely make it again!

Made this tonight. I couldn't find Garam Marsala so I worked a substitute as was suggested above. Wife and I both liked it. We weren't wowed by it, but liked it. It was too spicy for my small children. Will make again, but will cut back on the Cayenne.

I just made this recipe for the first time and it was great! So excited to have found this site and the crock pot recipes you have posted. Finally a series of recipes that are tasty, original and don't all call of a can of cream of condenses goop! I substituted bone-on breast and added some salt. At the end in addition to the yogurt, I chopped up some cilantro. A feast was had by all - thanks

I just made this recipe! It came out good. The only thing I did differently (besides not really measuring spices) is that I toasted the spices in the pan with a little butter (because I'm out of ghee) until they were very aromatic and then put them in the crockpot. Really adds a lot of flavor! Thanks for the delicious recipe!

I have to tell you this recipe is a huge favorite in our circle of friends and family. I have passed it along to soo many people. There was a question that just came up and wondered if you could answer. How well does this freeze if you know? My aunt is making it but she is the only one in the house that will eat it and so she is making a large batch and wanting to freeze the rest? Thanks so much and keep up the awesome and inspiring work!!

I served it to kids, so I didn't use any cayenne pepper and it made a huge difference. I had to add salt to the dish when I was eating it last night. And I am not a person who misses salt as a rule. Today, with leftovers, I am adding hot sauce and you really don't notice the lack. I would also add cream to the sauce to give it more texture. It's possible that more cream would have made up for the lack of salt, too, and I think I would add more tomato paste next time.

I had chicken thighs, and a funny schedule, so I cooked on Low for four hours and then High for two and it was cooked perfectly. Adding the vegetables at the end is a great idea. I also had only vanilla yogurt in the house and it worked fine. In lieu of 15 cardamom pods, I used 3/4 tsp of cardamom powder.

The house smelled amazing. Leftovers are exciting. What else do you want in a slow cooker recipe anyway? :)

After making your amazing chicken-thigh curry about ten times, I am going to try all your Indian recipes. Hubby is delighted! :) He asks if you would make a recipe for chicken saag, as that's his favourite :)

I used to not be a fan of Indian food, but the Indian recipes on this site have made me a convert! I followed this recipe nearly to the letter and it was amazing. For the cardamom pods, instead of sewing them or putting them in cheesecloth, I put them in my tea strainer and tied a string on the end so I could pull it out. It worked perfectly!